The new moon rises over the Memorial Day holiday, bringing some extra-low morning tides just around sunrise for the week.
As the northern elephant seal and whale seasons ebb away, the snowy plover nesting and harbor seal pupping seasons arrive. It appears the tenacious plovers lost some of their first nests and hatchlings to high winds and raven predation, but the parents got right back to mating and building new nests. Though the wind buried some of the eggs, researchers who had previously mapped the nests were able to rescue some of the eggs, which are being incubated at wildlife rescue centers. The first counts of harbor seal pups revealed coyote predation on the sandbars where they rest.
On land, other new babes arriving are tule elk calves and black-tailed deer. Newborns, who are often left alone while their parents forage nearby, will soon be up and scampering about.
The high grass is obscuring some wildflowers, but many species continue to bloom. Deep-purple Douglas iris are joined by their pale-yellow cousin, Fernald’s iris, which enjoy the shade of the redwood forests along Sir Francis Drake.
Park visitor centers, roads and trails will be open over the Memorial Day weekend.